Hope is the enemy. Hopebreaker by @deanfwilson #HBTour #review
By tweeting this post, you can earn promotional tweets from me as part of the Amazon Tweet Exchange.
Details here.
Details here.
Hopebreaker
Written by Dean F. Wilson
Genre(s): Steampunk
Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | BookDepository
In the world of Altadas, there are no more human births. The Regime is replacing the unborn with demons, while the Resistance is trying to destroy a drug called Hope that the demons need to survive.
Between these two warring factions lies Jacob, a man who profits from smuggling contraceptive amulets into the city of Blackout. He cares little about the Great Iron War, but a chance capture, and an even more accidental rescue, embroils him in a plot to starve the Regime from power.
When Hope is an enemy, Jacob finds it harder than he thought to remain indifferent. When the Resistance opts to field its experimental landship, the Hopebreaker, the world may find that one victory does not win a war.
Between these two warring factions lies Jacob, a man who profits from smuggling contraceptive amulets into the city of Blackout. He cares little about the Great Iron War, but a chance capture, and an even more accidental rescue, embroils him in a plot to starve the Regime from power.
When Hope is an enemy, Jacob finds it harder than he thought to remain indifferent. When the Resistance opts to field its experimental landship, the Hopebreaker, the world may find that one victory does not win a war.
Sharon's Review
.JPG)
I'm very impressed by the artistic professionalism of Hopebreaker's book trailer. It gives a very good idea of what the book is about, without any spoilers. The story has a steampunk setting – a newish genre consisting of a world where nineteenth century technology like box and curtain cameras exist at the same time as the advanced tank-like war wagon called Hopebreaker.
The story revolves around Jacob, an amulet smuggler, and Whistler, a fourteen year old boy who can see demons where others can't. They are rescued from prison by Taberah, a woman who has a vested interest in Whistler. They set out on a journey fraught with danger to rid their world Altadas of demons, forever. There's lots of bloodshed, subterfuge and betrayal. Also courage, heroism and love. Altogether a very fast read.
There is a passage that sums up the entire dystopian society of Altadas : It grew by the week, for the demons grew in number, and they needed sustenance, and so they stole the land and the sky, and they replaced it with concrete, steel and iron, until the very building mirrored the multiplication of the demonic horde.
The story revolves around Jacob, an amulet smuggler, and Whistler, a fourteen year old boy who can see demons where others can't. They are rescued from prison by Taberah, a woman who has a vested interest in Whistler. They set out on a journey fraught with danger to rid their world Altadas of demons, forever. There's lots of bloodshed, subterfuge and betrayal. Also courage, heroism and love. Altogether a very fast read.
There is a passage that sums up the entire dystopian society of Altadas : It grew by the week, for the demons grew in number, and they needed sustenance, and so they stole the land and the sky, and they replaced it with concrete, steel and iron, until the very building mirrored the multiplication of the demonic horde.
There were a couple of other passages I really like:What kind of world is this, Jacob thought, where light is dangerous and Hope is an enemy?
The longer we leave them to their own devices, the more devices they will have to use against us.”
I like this book very much, but I did find some inconsistencies. The most glaring of which occurs right near the beginning. It doesn't make sense. Whistler had been in the prison for over a month and refused to eat the bread or water that was thrown into the cell by the guards. It doesn't mention any other source of sustenance. It is mentioned that the lad is weak and thin, but he should be dead after a month without water, even if he survived without food. Of course it is fantasy fiction, but I feel it should at least explain how he survived that long, in order to operate within some realm of probability. Strangely, I ran across the odd typo, or grammar error, which surprises me, since the book itself is otherwise so slick and polished. I would recommend this book to anyone who is into steampunk, and even those who aren't usually – like me. I give this book a solid four.
About Dean F. Wilson
Dean F. Wilson was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1987. He started writing at age 11, when he began his first (unpublished) novel, entitled The Power Source. He won a TAP Educational Award from Trinity College Dublin for an early draft of The Call of Agon (then called Protos Mythos) in 2001.His epic fantasy trilogy, The Children of Telm, was released between 2013 and 2014.
Dean also works as a journalist, primarily in the field of technology. He has written for TechEye, Thinq, V3, VR-Zone, ITProPortal, TechRadar Pro, and The Inquirer.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest
